Ever wonder about the creepy creatures we associate with Halloween? Want to learn the history of these creatures, the fear they create for many people and see live re-enactments while sitting around a spooky campfire?

The Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum at Benedictine University will present "Creepy Critters" at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 22. While seated around a campfire in the University quad, kids young and old can listen to the history behind these creatures while the legends associated with them – accurate and inaccurate – are acted out.

The stories were written by Joni Marin, Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum Education and Outreach Coordinator, from the viewpoint of a person living at the time the legends behind the creatures associated with Halloween such as spiders, owls, wolves and bats evolved.

Her stories will also be illustrated…literally.

"We will have some of our Tri Beta Biological Honor Society members and student employees of the museum dress up in costumes to re-enact the stories based on historical legends as I tell them," Marin said. "Then, as we discuss the actual natural history of these legendary creatures of the night, we hope to have people see the beauty and wonder of them, rather than fear."

In order to help guests to understand the nature of these creatures, replicas and specimens will be passed around to allow attendees to examine their true essence.

To learn more about the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum and to reserve seating, contactJoni Marin at (630) 829-6546 orjmarin@ben.edu(please put "Creepy Critters" in the subject line). Seating is limited.

###

Benedictine University is an independent Roman Catholic institution located in Lisle, Illinois just 25 miles west of Chicago. Founded in 1887, Benedictine provides 56 undergraduate majors, 16 graduate and four doctorate programs. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ranked Benedictine University as the seventh fastest-growing campus among private nonprofit master’s universities, and Forbes magazine named Benedictine among the top 20 percent of America’s colleges for 2011. Benedictine University’s Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) program is listed by Crain’s Chicago Business as the fourth largest in the Chicago area in 2011.